Former Bull Michael Rankine has signed for Gateshead for the coming season.

He links up with former York boss Gary Mills for a third time, with Mills telling the club's official site: "Rankine is a vastly experienced player who played for me at York and Alfreton, he knows what I'm about and what I expect from him.

"He's a powerful lad, a real handful, and someone who will give us something a bit different. He's a player I've always liked, and one that has done well for me in the past. Along with Jon Shaw he's another proven player that can play down the middle.

"Central defenders certainly know they have been in a game when they face him and I'm delighted to get the chance to work with him for a third time."

Grays Athletic owner Andy Swallow spoke to Bulls News this morning about their planned game at Edgar Street.

Swallow, who told BN outline details about the result of today's High Court hearing, said that he accepted the game in good faith to give the new Hereford United side a test against 'a proper step 3 football club' in order to give an insight as to how the new side would fare this season.

He added that if true fans were to contact his club with genuine reasons why the game should not take place then he would consider his position.Update: Fans are asked to send these concerns to Bulls News bullsnews@btinternet.com who will then forward them on to Grays with personal information removed.

Southern League rules state that any CVA agreed by a member club must see all football creditors paid in full by the end of the season.

With the league running on the standardised FA rules, the terms are very similar to those in the Conference. Any club entering a CVA, or other insolvency event, would be deducted 10 points immediately and would have to pay all football creditors by the end of that season to avoid further sanction.

All other creditors would also have to be paid - in full - within three years or the sanction of relegation would be imposed.

Your Thurrock has said that the friendly between Hereford United and Grays Athletic is set to go ahead despite fans calling for the game to be cancelled.

WHAT was supposed to be a pre-season friendly is starting to feel
quite the opposite as fans have called for the game between crisis-club
Hereford United and Grays Athletic to be called off.As we reported last week, Hereford United are in free fall and
crisis. Essex businessman Tommy Agombar is at the centre of negotiations
regarding the future of the club. Tommy has a connection with Grays Ath
as his son Harry once played. Grays chief executive, Joel Nathan has,
according to reports, been to see Tommy to offer advice.Hereford fans, worried that their historic old club may disappear
have been very tense and that tension has been expressed on their
unofficial fans forum. Mr Nathan started discussing matters with fans on
the forum. This soon descended into a war of words.Hereford fans warned Grays Athletic not to come down to the friendly,
set for July 19th, as they indicated their would be protests.The war of words spilt over onto Grays fans forum. The end result
seems to be many Grays fans have indicated that they will not be
travelling to the game.But as of today (Monday)1. The friendly is still set to go ahead.2. Grays Athletic have indicated that they have reported “intimidatory and abusive posts..to the authorities.”

Hereford United are back in the High Court this morning sometime after 10.30am.

They face a winding-up order brought by former manager Martin Foyle which is about unpaid wages. Queensway Publishing, who have printed the club's match day programme recently, have added their claim for payment to Foyle's order. Queensway is reported to be owned by the chairman of Braintree FC.

The hearing is listed as number 42 so, depending on how quickly the previous cases are dealt with, it's thought there may be news on the outcome around mid-day.

Meanwhile earlier this morning BBC Hereford and Worcester noted that the club might have decided to go for a CVA. BN had reported this possibility last Friday.

'Suggestions that the club's new board is considering entering a CVA (creditors voluntary agreement) or administration before today's hearing.

'Were they to do that then this would head off the threat of the club being wound up in the short-term.'

The FA, and the Conference haven’t helped either with a farcical fit and proper test to become a director, or a major shareholder in a football club. If you want to own a premier league club, you have to provide proof of funds and be scrutinised completely. For Football league, you have to provide passport, proof of address, driving licence, and details of all previous football and non-football directorships. For non-league, a P.O box in Dubai and an email address is all you need it seems. This will be followed up in Parliament by our own MP John Glen and the Minister for sport. Perhaps it could lead to a change for the good in the future, but it does not help this club right here and now.

Winter expects the club to fail to meet the Conference deadline for payment on July 4th and for the Whites to therefore have no team for 2014/15.

Hereford United supporter David Whittall has sent BN some more information about 'Pre-Pack', something Tommy Agombar and his associates may have planned in advance of possible administration of the club.

David makes the point that since former chairman David Keyte once said the leases were worth £1M, would any administrator sell the leases for peanuts? The administrators are duty bound to get the best return for creditors.

The business must be insolvent and have no viable prospect of recovery. In
short, a business is considered to be legally insolvent when the amount
it owes in current and contingent debts and liabilities exceeds the
combined value of its assets, and/or when the business has defaulted on a
debt of more than £750 and has failed to comply with a statutory
payment demand.

The
insolvency practitioner and company directors must be able to show that
no other solutions would have been more beneficial to creditors.
Company directors and insolvency practitioners are required by law to
act in the best interest of the insolvent company's creditors.
Therefore, a pre-pack administration cannot be used unless it results in
the best outcome for creditors.

The purchaser must be able to pay fair market value for the assets out of their own personal funds. This
is what makes a pre-pack ethical - the proceeds from the sale of
assets are distributed amongst creditors, so it is essentially the same
is if an unrelated third-party purchased the assets during liquidation,
except the third-party can be one or more directors of the insolvent
company.

As the glitz and excitement continues over in Brazil in the World
Cup, 5,732 miles away in Hereford and a million miles away figuratively
speaking, Hereford United’s woes go from bad to worse.

Around two weeks ago we were about to go to press on here with the
news that Hereford United had secured their place in the Skrill
Conference Premier for next season only for the Conference board to take
the decision to expel the Bulls from all Conference divisions. The
decision taken by the board on the 10th June sees Hereford expelled from
the Conference South as well as the Conference Premier next season and
will see them line-up in the Calor Southern League Premier Division next
season along with the likes of Banbury United, St Neot’s Town and
Cambridge City, rather than Cambridge United who they played last
season; but will they?The reason they face the prospect of the Southern League is due to
the fact the Conference board basically lost patience with them. The
board had extended, and extended, and extended the deadline set for the
club to meet the debts of all the creditors after meeting with former
chairman David Keyte and the accountant of new owner Tommy Agombar. They
set a final deadline of 12th June after being assured the funds were in
place to meet those debts. When it became clear the club was still not
going to be able to meet the deadline the Conference board’s tolerance
ran out.Quite frankly things are a mess and that’s putting it mildly. Firstly
there are doubts over the new owner; Agombar is an ex-con jailed 27
years ago for his part in a series of truck thefts by a gang in his
native London. He served a seven-year sentence for his part in the
crimes and under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 a custodial
sentence of more than two and a half years never becomes spent. Under
the Football Association’s new ‘Owners and Directors’ Test, the new
name for the ‘Fit and Proper Person’s’ Test there are several grounds on
which a potential owner can fail, the most important one being that
anybody with an unspent conviction involving dishonesty cannot take over
a club.Secondly there is the fact the debts are a lot higher than first
thought. Agombar has angrily stated recently that whilst he was
negotiating to buy the club he was told the debts were around £300,000
but it transpires the debts are more than four times that. Then there is
the farce around the playing staff.Player wages remain unpaid and one by one the players are leaving the
club with player of the season and goalkeeper Daniel Lloyd-Weston and
Dom Collins both joining former boss Martin Foyle at Southport. In
addition Frankie Artus has opted for Bath City, Rod McDonald has signed
for AFC Telford United and, most recently, striker Dan Walker has joined
Braintree Town. Lloyd-Weston and McDonald were both openly critical of
the club’s handling of matters as they left with a string of broken
promises. It leaves the club with just two registered players, if the
club’s website is to be believed. The P.F.A. are pushing the Southern
League and the F.A. to ensure the outstanding wages are paid before the
club in its current state can continue.The non-payment has had a knock on effect in other areas too with
Ledbury Town and Weobley F.C. both declining to play the club in
pre-season friendlies; Ledbury stating ‘it would be wrong to support a
club who has failed to keep its promises about paying players and
staff’.The area that is causing the most concern though for the
long-suffering fans. Never has a well coined phrase ever seemed so apt,
is the issue over the club’s ground. Shortly after the expulsion from
the Conference it transpired Agombar was due to meet with Herefordshire
Council. On the agenda was not only the outstanding bill of £65,000 due
for rent and rates but also the transfer of the lease on two sides of
the ground to the new owner, or another of his companies to be precise.
Hereford United Supporters Trust (H.U.S.T.) fear the Londoner is trying
to gain the leases in order to then sell the land, something he denies.
H.U.S.T. called on fans to lobby the council to reject the proposals and
as a result a petition against the transfer of the leases was raised.
The petition has some 7,300 signatures on it, significantly more than
the 1,758 that was the average crowd at Edgar Street last season,
showing the depth of feeling over the matter and was presented to the
council on Thursday following a ceremonial funeral march by the fans in
protest at how the club has been run. The march included a mock coffin, a
fan (one of fifty) dressed as the grim reaper and a banner proclaiming
‘David Keyte You Have Murdered Our Club’ leaving those watching via the
BBC Midlands cameras in no doubt how the Hereford fans feel about this.The H.U.S.T. chairman, Chris Williams, has released a statement in
which he lays the blame solely at the door of Keyte. The outgoing
chairman’s arrogance and attitude towards the management of the club and
towards the club’s fans being blamed by Williams for the situation they
find themselves in. The H.U.S.T man implores the current regime to
vacate Edgar Street and give the club back to the fans, as they
should’ve done originally.The trust offered the same deal as Agombar but outgoing chairman
Keyte, apparently now quite poorly presumably with the stress of the
situation turned them down. The offer was backed by a group of local
businessmen, who believe, as does Williams, that the current club
‘Hereford United 1939 Ltd’ has no long-term future. John Hale,
spokesman for the consortium, envisages a situation where Williams would
take a prominent role on the board of a new club formed in the place of
the current one with other trust members also on the board. There would
be no single major shareholder and the club would be run by the fans
with the business expertise of the investors in the background should it
be needed.Whether such a new club would be accepted into the Southern League is
another matter. For now the league has accepted that the current club
has satisfactorily met the conditions placed upon it by the board of the
league and have accepted the club into their competition for next
season – as long as ‘nothing drastic happens’. One of the league’s
conditions was that the club meet the Football Association’s ‘Owners and
Directors’ Test, interestingly the league announced their satisfaction
just a day after it was announced Agombar had stepped down as a director
of the club just 13 days after being formally announced as one. The
F.A. refuse to release the results of the test despite pressure from
local M.P. Jesse Norman., stating it is the responsibility of the club
to announce it.Where it leaves things stand regarding the ownership of the club
exactly is uncertain. Companies House had Keyte listed as the sole
director of the club yet Agombar has already gone on record as stating
that Keyte no longer has anything to with the club whatsoever. A fact
confirmed by the club on Wednesday when they announced their former
chairman had left the club. The following day two new directors were
announced. Leigh based (as in Leigh in Lancashire – some way from
Hereford) John Edwards and Elke Thuerlings. Who these two are and what
their intentions are remain a mystery. What they intend to do re the
debts that remain unpaid is also currently unclear. What is clear is
that the Conference board have stated that the club will not be allowed
back into any of their leagues until all current creditors are
satisfied. With court cases still looming with the tax man and Martin
Foyle it truly is a sorry state of affairs.The only winners in this pitiful mess are Chester F.C. who have been
reinstated to the Conference in the place of Hereford United along with
Dartford F.C. who have taken Salisbury City’s place. Salisbury have been
dumped into the Conference South after their own financial problems
caused by their co-owner Otail Touzar. The knock on effect of these two
changes means innocent, well run clubs have been messed around as the
Conference rearranges their divisions to accommodate the demoted clubs.
The worst affected is Suffolk side Lowestoft Town who were expecting to
line-up in the Conference South following their promotion from the Ryman
Isthmian League. As a result of other clubs’ poor financial management
Lowestoft will find themselves with some very long trips next season
with the prospect of trips to Barrow and Bradford Park Avenue, having
been dumped into the Conference North for next season. Their ‘derby’
match next season will be with Boston United, a mere 200 mile round
trip!All in all it is one very miserable mess, not helped by the
Conference’s dallying over Hereford’s fate. What happens next at Edgar
Street is anyone’s guess; one thing that is sure though is it’s going to
be a long summer for the Bulls fans; the World Cup may be the last
football they see for a while the way things are going.

The board has responded to public speculation in order to clarify matters regarding the situation at a fellow football club

There is public speculation
that the Football Association (The FA) is investigating our Chief
Executive Joel Nathan regarding his involvement with Hereford United
Football Club. We can clarify there has thus far been no contact from
The FA regarding this matter. The board is fully aware that Joel Nathan
has offered advice to a fellow football club that, like Grays Athletic,
has dropped from the football conference to a lower tier of English
football.
There is further public speculation regarding threatened demonstrations
at our friendly match being played at Hereford United in July and
intimidatory posts against our supporters on public forums regarding
their attendance at that match. We recognise the right of individuals to
protest but our club is not related in any way to the current financial
situation at Hereford United and we believe our supporters should not
be intimidated in any way. We have offered our supporters free travel on
our team coach as a thank you gesture for the numerous times the
supporters paid for our team to travel to away fixtures last season. We
have spoken to Cardiff City and if they are happy to play there, we are
happy to play there.
Joel Nathan has made himself available in public forums to answer
questions posed by concerned Hereford United fans. Mr.Nathan has since
been banned by the administrators of those forums while Hereford United
fans have joined Grays Athletic supporters forums to criticise
Mr.Nathan. Mr. Nathan is a football fan as well as a club official and
has specific experience in dealing with the situation Hereford United
finds itself in and is happy to offer his advice in helping that club,
and he is also available to supporters with genuine concerns and wish to
ask him questions. We would politely suggest that those public forum
bans be lifted so that Mr.Nathan can respond to any queries from
supporters.
We would also like to place on record our sympathy and empathy towards
Hereford United, a football club with a fine history and tradition that
now finds itself in a situation we ourselves went through just a few
years ago. We wish the club and it's supporters the best of luck and a
swift return to the higher levels of English football.

Grays Athletic have also issued a statement about the proposed friendly set to take place on July 19th.

Hereford United Friendly

The club has agreed to travel to
Hereford United on Saturday 19th July and as it stands this match is
expected to go ahead as planned

The club is committed to
fulfilling this fixture which is to be played one week after league club
Cardiff City visit Edgar Road for a pre-season game.
The club has made seats on the team coach available to our supporters
free of charge on a first come, first served basis but we fully
understand if supporters do not wish to travel to this game. There has
been a number of intimidatory and abusive posts in public forums
regarding our supporters and club officials which we take very seriously
and the relevant details have been passed to the appropriate
authorities in Hereford.
We have accepted this friendly in good faith and for footballing reasons
as it represents an opportunity for new manager Jody Brown to give his
new charges a challenging run-out just weeks before the start of the new
season.
The club reiterates it's desire to fulfil this fixture unless the
Football Association decides otherwise. If Cardiff City visits Edgar
Road as scheduled, we will fulfil our commitment to Hereford United one
week later.

In an earlier article on BN, MP Jesse Norman talked about the possibility of the owners of Hereford United using a device known as 'pre-pack'.

This from 'Company Rescue'.

In the UK, a pre pack administration sale is a
powerful, legal way of selling the business on to a trade buyer or a
third party. Or to the existing directors operating under a new company
(or "newco") if the business is facing serious problems and creditor
threats.

If a winding up petition is threatened, this can be a powerful solution. Don't wait until a winding up petition is issued through, because pre-pack is not permitted after it has been issued.

The main advantage of prepack administration is the continuity
of the "business". When the plan is ready and a contract of purchase is
drawn up, the company is quickly protected by the Court - allowing the
administrator to sell the "business and assets".

This gets rid of debts, unwanted or onerous contracts, and
possibly some employees (although in most circumstances there could be TUPE issues that need to be addressed) and there can be no interruption to the business, which in itself can destroy value.

Another big advantage is that the cost of the process is lower
than trading administration, as the administrators do not need to find
funding to trade the business. The process, including the preliminary
marketing, professional valuation work and discussions with creditors,
can be very quick and done in a few days if necessary.

"I not sure I would expect one but if I do I'll see if I can make it public."

BN - Should Herefordshire Council be making more effort to get payment of the £65K the club owes?

"I certainly think they should be pressing for the money because that is council tax payers money and if you look at the situation with grass cutting etc that's money that could be put to good use elsewhere in the country.

"We've seen promises to pay creditors before from Mr Agombar so it's not clear that has any real credibility.

"Instead of persuing him directly, they could attach that debt to some of the proceedings that are already going to be in front of the court next week."

BN - Do you believe the Council have the leases for the ground tightly drawn?

"I haven't read the leases but my impression is the Council has done an initial legal review of the leases and therefore has at least a preliminary understanding of its powers under the leases.

"What the leases say is very important and also what could be plausibly asserted in a court of law to defend them."

BN - If the club goes into administration and/or liquidation do the leases return to the Council or is that only in liquidation?

"I don't know and that's a very important question. If the club goes into liquidation then one would expect the leases to revert to the Council.

"Administration is a work in progress in which a company tries to reach an accommodation with its creditors. I would be surprised if the leases change at that point. It all depends what is written in the contract.

"Administration is important for other reasons as it does potentially allow a more formal process by which other bidders, parties of interest, can seek to look at the basis of changing ownership"

BN - Could that involve a CVA?

"I think it could involve a CVA."

BN then asked about the current directors of Hereford United. For a spell this week it was thought there were no directors then a couple appeared out of the woodwork.

"My team noticed the club had two new directors having not had any - it's not absolutely clear that there was a point when they didn't have any. We need to clarify that with Companies House.

"What is clear is that Mr Agombar took himself off the directors register for the process of acceptance into the Southern League and has now put himself back on.

"It's absolutely terrible and the idea that she would now become, or be treated as, one of the unsecured creditors of the club and therefore potentially may not receive that amount, or not the full amount, is a cause of enomous embarrassment to the club and to the owners.

"The whole situation is a desperate one and she seems to have been one of the biggest victims."

BN - With the threat of administration or liquidation what is worrying supporters is whether Tommy Agombar and Co could 'buy' the club from the administrators and buy it without so much debt in it.

"It's a fair concern.

"If anyone has got the best interests of the club and football in Herefordshire at heart there is a phenomenon called a 'pre-pack' whereby a club goes into administration and use that process to pay their creditors at very low levels or not at all.

"And then the assets of the club are bought out of adminstation by a bidder and if that's in a 'pre-pack' that may be bidder who was responsible in the first place and the effect of that is they end up with pretty much what they had before but without the having to pay the debt on it.

"That's a huge worry and I share that worry and I'm sure every other fan of Hereford United does as well.

"I'm not a legal expert but administration is a semi-formal process, there are rules associated with it and presumably it would be possible for other interested parties to come to the administrators and say look you could get a better deal for your creditors if you accepted our offer rather than let the club run as it presently is funded by the owners in the way they are funding it.

"I think the Supporters Trust backed by Jon Hale's business group could come in, may be other interested parties as well at that point.

"The key thing at this point is to make sure there is no 'pre-pack', that there is enough time for everyone to put alternative bids together if they can, those bids are as strong as they possibly can be, as long term, as well funded, as well supported as they possibly can be and the group (HUST and Hale) would be a very serious potential bidder."

BN - Do you think it is right that former director Nick Nenadich, who sold his shareholding (along with that of David Keyte) to Tommy Agombar and caused no end of problems for yourself, Hereford Council and Hereford United supporters should continue as a Hereford Tory Councillor.

"It hasn't caused me any political concern at all because I think people understand the Council is different to the MP.

"Anyone can make a mistake which I think Nick has acknowledged regardless of their political affiliations.

"I think there is an election next year and I think it's up to Nick to take a long view of the situation. He's been a very good councillor in many respects.

Former Bulls loanee Ross Dyer has joined Halifax for the coming season.

The 26 year old netted three times in five games for the Bulls in a loan spell from Mansfield, but was released by the Stags earlier in the summer.

In other news, Bristol Rovers have told fans at their Supporters Club EGM that the club needs average gates of 9,500 to break even. They had just 6,420 average last season - the third highest in League Two.

Chairman Nick Higgs told the meeting that the board had propped the club up to the tune of £10million since he joined the board eight years ago.

In the month of June alone HUST have welcomed 118 new members as concern grows for our football club, taking the total membership number to 719.

New members have been signed up across the country and the whole world, with a dozen countries now having HUST members residing in them.

We signed up our youngest member, Chairman Chris Williams’ first grandchild, this month and also several former Bulls players including Steve Guinan, Luke Graham, Rob Purdie, and our latest player recruit Alex Jeannin.

The HUST Board would like to thank every one of our members for their support.

I wanted to update you about the latest situation regarding Hereford United (1939) Ltd, which trades as Hereford United Football Club.

As you know, I have written to you on a number of occasions, most recently in January 2014, to ask for forbearance in respect of the club’s overdue tax bills. These letters were sent in the context of a huge amount of local fundraising and the potential sale of the club to well-capitalised new owners.

The club has indeed changed ownership since January 2014 but to a different buyer, Mr Tommy Agombar. Unfortunately, I am not persuaded that Mr Agombar is able to meet the club’s financial obligations as they fall due. He has already allowed the club to be expelled from the Conference League due to non-payment of football debts and failure to post the required bond. Numerous other creditors remain unpaid, in addition to HMRC. As for cash flow, most of the fundraising efforts that had kept the club afloat in recent months have now dried up, while other local clubs have refused to play friendly games with Hereford.

In this context there is no proper justification for a policy of forbearance towards the club’s tax debts. I would encourage HMRC to do everything that you feel is necessary to secure what is owed to the Exchequer.

The ongoing saga at Swindon has seen a judge suggest that Jed McCrory was lying under oath.

The revelation came during the second day of a trial to determine who owns the League One side, with McCrory and current Robins chairman Lee Power arguing over who had control of the side.

Judge Strauss said: “I frankly don’t believe Mr McCrory’s evidence" when referring to emails sent between the pair over a 3 year extension to an unspecified agreement. McCrory claimed the extension only referred to Power's then position as Director of Football rather than an option to take control of the shares held by McCrory.

McCrory has several links to the current regime at Edgar Street. He met with Herefordshire Council back in March, a point he acknowledged to BN at the time, and the Robins signed Harry Agombar to a two year playing deal while McCrory was Chairman - with Swindon fans claiming Tommy Agombar was among McCrory's entourage until his departure in December.

McCrory had previously been at Banbury, where he employed current Bulls coaches Paul Davis and Jon Taylor.

After being presented with a petition, Herefordshire Council leader Tony Johnson spoke to supporters outside the Council HQ.

"You are asking us to reject calls to transfer the leases,"said Johnson.

"We've had an e-mail from the owners of the club.

"Herefordshire Council has received the following from the new owner of Hereford United football club.

"This is a quote - 'We wish to leave all leases for the club in the name of Hereford United Football Club 1939 Limited.

"We have paid all football creditors and have been accepted into the Premier Division of the Southern Football League.'

"The council has accepted this information in good faith.

"I can't vouch for the accuracy of any of this. That's come to us in the last 48 hours, we've heard nothing since, other than a couple of curious telephone calls.

"As a Council we support the efforts of you and your colleagues, we like you want to see football remain in the city.

"We are the Landlords, we have no control over the club, we are not shareholders, we don't the club itself.

"We simply own the site on which the club sits.

"None the less, as a Council we share your ambitions. From a personal point of view I share your ambitions.

"I've had many conversations with one of your supporters here, Cllr Kenyon.

"We will do what we can."

Cllr Kenyon then asked Cllr Johnson if he could confirm whether the council have been paid the £65K owed by the football club.

"To my knowledge it's not been paid yet.

"We've been told they will pay (supporters laughter in background)."

Kenyon then asked if the date they were going to pay had passed are the council now going to take legal action against the club to recover the money for the taxpayer.

"The correspondance that I have didn't give a date by which it would be paid," continued Johnson.

"The correspondance said it was their intention to settle the outstanding debts to the Council and that there was an outstanding bond with an amount left in it and a question from them, could that bond be drawn down to offset at least part of the outstanding debt to the Council.

"No actual date came with the correspondance that we have received.

"As of the morning I do not believe that the debt has been paid, I do know legal people were looking at their request with regards to the bond.

"We share your concerns about the football club. There's nothing we would like better than football to remain where it is.

"I have to say it's a great pity the football club has got itself in this position. There is huge support from so many people.

"Where there is room for judgement we come down on the same side as you."

One supporter then suggested to Cllr Johnson that 'they do not intend to pay anyone out.'

"I believe your view is shared by many if not all of your supporters.

"Our legal team are looking to see what our options are and what we can do.

One of the Hereford United supporters on today's funeral march was John Hancock from Woolhope. Pictured on the left, John has been supporting the club for 66 years.

BN asked him why he was on the march.

"I've come here just to try and emphasize the fact that, as far as I'm concerned, the Council should not even be talking, much less discussing, about leases with this regime that has come in to take 57% of the shares.

"They should not talk to them until all creditors have been paid in full.

"Delaying tactics that's all it is. None of us really know the outcome.

"I think this march will get the message across to the Council.

"We've lobbied the Council. Most, if not all of them, are aware of what the situation is, this will just re-emphasize it today.

"The debt to the Council is £67k and my honest feeling is that they are never going to get any money out of the regime anyway.

"So if we go into liquidation, or whatever, they can not lose.

"There's only one way it can go now, the club as we've known it has basically gone. No way can it come back, no one is going to put that money out.

"As supporters now we have to go in and take it over from the beginning, run it as it should be run.

Robert James Purdie is one of the newest members of the Hereford United Supporters Trust after signing up this morning.

For those who are unaware of his abilities, wikipedia describes Purdie as;

“a versatile utility player who plays primarily as an attacking midfielder, but he can also play in the left back and right back position, in central midfield, in the wide right or left position, or in the ‘hole’ as a striker.”

Rob has become the 583rd adult member of the Hereford United Supporters Trust with the total membership now standing at 710 members (including Juniors).

On joining the Trust Purdie stated; “with the state of the club in such decline, joining HUST is a way I can maybe help out. I would like to have been doing it on the pitch and getting Hereford back on track but as that won’t be the case now my support might be able to substitute that.

The HUST were there for the players last season and offered us things to help out including wages which we respectfully declined at the time and that type of supporter base is what will get the club going forward again. Living in Hereford I may be able to be an active member but anything I can do to help I will as I am also a HUFC fan and Hereford resident. I know what this club means to people and it needs everybody pilling together now to save it.”

The 31 year old has made a total of 234 Appearances and scored 26 goals in 3 permanent spells & a loan spell with the Bulls spanning from his debut in 2002 up until the season just gone, having also represented Leicester, Darlington, Oldham & our friends up the A49 Shrewsbury.

A few pictures from today's funeral march by Hereford United supporters. Around 50 of them gathered at Edgar Street this morning and carried a coffin from there through the centre of Hereford to the Council Offices.

Companies House has told more than one fan that two new Director appointments have been received by them today.

It is currently unknown who these Directors are, or who signed off on their appointments. Since Tommy Agombar resigned on June 17th, only David Keyte would have had the authority to appoint new Directors until his resignation.

Councillor Tony Johnson And Hereford United Supporters At The Council HQ

At today's march to Herefordshire Council headquarters at Brockington, Council leader Tony Johnson read out a statement:

Herefordshire Council has received the following from the new owner of Hereford United Football Club.

"We wish to leave all leases for the club in the name of Hereford United Football Club (1939) Limited. We have paid all football creditors and have been accepted into the Premier Division of the Southern Football League."

The council has accepted this information in good faith.

Council leader Tony Johnson told fans the message had been received 'in the last 48 hours' and, in response to a question from Councillor Jim Kenyon, said the Council had not been paid their £65,000 despite assurances they would be paid.

The claims that football creditors have been paid were instantly dismissed by the assembled fans, with two former members of staff taking part in the march confirming they were still awaiting payment. Rob Purdie also confirmed that the players had not been paid.

Former Bulls owner David Keyte has terminated his appointment as a Director of the club.

Keyte, who had remained as Chairman to get the club through the Southern League AGM but then refused to actually attend the meeting, submitted forms to Companies House on 19th June and had them processed yesterday.

The move means that the club no longer has any Directors listed. Under those circumstances, a meeting of shareholders should be called to appoint new Directors.The Company's Articles of Association demand that the club have a minimum of three Directors at any one time. Failure to meet this requirement is a breach of Company law, but such breaches would have to be reported to Companies House by individuals as they do not check records individually.

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